Happy Birthday Asher

Asher's birthday was on Sept 30th, so he got to celebrate in New Hampshire. Mmmm, chocolate cake!

The story of Asher's birth: I began having contractions on our way home from near New York City where we had spent the past week and a half (Dan was building a treehouse there). At that time I was one week from my due date, so I thought this might be it! But we were so tired by the time we got home that we just went to bed. In the morning my contractions were gone. Every evening they would come back a little earlier in the day and a little stronger but every morning they were gone. After 2 weeks of this and now being overdue by a week, I thought he would never come. I got used to the idea of just going to bed no matter how strong the contractions were.
On Saturday the 29th I had contractions the whole day but just went about my day as usual still convinced that he would never come. We bought a new mini van and hung out with my parents on our way home. They offered to keep Eli over night but again I thought I would have plenty of warning when I really went into labor, after all I was in labor with Eli for 37 hours. I went to bed around 11:30pm after timing my contraction at 8-10 minutes apart, no big deal. When I woke up around 2:30, I was having stronger contractions, but I was still tired and in denial, so I tried to go back to sleep. I couldn't so I started timing my contraction they were 3 minutes apart! So by 3:00 I woke Dan up and said I think this is real. Neither one of us was in a hurry at first, so Dan was packing up his computer and stuff when I said "WOW-Let's Go". I went into Eli's room picked him up and started for the van, things were kicking into high gear. By the time we reached my parents house to drop Eli, off I told Dan "Get Eli out, hand him over and get back into the car- don't stop to talk." We had to take back roads half way and boy was I feeling every bump and curve. I concentrated on breathing and said things like "I hope my water doesn't break in our new van" and "Maybe I'll get an epidural this time". I still though I had hours to go. Normally I would tell Dan to "slow down you don't know these roads and it is dark", but I purposely held those comments back, and I was even glad when be said "Let's see what this new van can do" as he pushed it to 95 MPH on the highway.
After about an hour in the car we reached Jennersville Regional Hospital. We were told we had to wait in the lobby for a wheel chair, it probably took 5 minutes but it felt like forever, and while I was standing there I started to get the urge to push. When I finally got to the birthing room and they realized how close I was they were yelling down the hall "Call the Midwife!" The nurses where telling me "try not to push, the midwife will be here soon, but we will deliver your baby if we have to." We had only been in the delivery room for about 10 minutes when our midwife Karen Pesta ran in the door, she threw on her gown and gloves said "Push" and caught Asher within one minute at 4:54am. Later Karen said "good thing I live close, as it was I only had time to do one button on my blouse." I mush have said "I can't believe I'm done" several times in the next few minutes. I just couldn't believe it all happened so fast. It had been less than 2 and a half hours from the time I knew this was it. Asher weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. so tiny and cute. It is hard to believe that one year later he is now 25 lbs. and taking his first tiny steps. And our love for him grow more and more every day!